PREP SOFTBALL: SWC champ Tigers end ‘a phenomenal ride’

Edwardsville embraces 28-wins, SWC title

Louie Korac, For The Telegraph

Published
9:49 am CDT, Saturday, June 4, 2016

Edwardsville’s Rachel Anderson raps out a single in a SWC victory over the Alton Redbirds on May 5 in Edwardsville. A four-year starter, Anderson hit .543 with 44 RBI as a senior and will play Division I college softball at Southeast Missouri. less

Edwardsville’s Rachel Anderson raps out a single in a SWC victory over the Alton Redbirds on May 5 in Edwardsville. A four-year starter, Anderson hit .543 with 44 RBI as a senior and will play Division I ... more

Photo: Scott Kane / For The Telegraph

Photo: Scott Kane / For The Telegraph

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Edwardsville’s Rachel Anderson raps out a single in a SWC victory over the Alton Redbirds on May 5 in Edwardsville. A four-year starter, Anderson hit .543 with 44 RBI as a senior and will play Division I college softball at Southeast Missouri. less

Edwardsville’s Rachel Anderson raps out a single in a SWC victory over the Alton Redbirds on May 5 in Edwardsville. A four-year starter, Anderson hit .543 with 44 RBI as a senior and will play Division I ... more

Photo: Scott Kane / For The Telegraph

PREP SOFTBALL: SWC champ Tigers end ‘a phenomenal ride’

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EDWARDSVILLE — When Edwardsville opened with two losses in its first five games, it begged the question that coach Lori Blade knew was coming.

“We lost a couple early and everybody’s like, ‘What’s wrong with Edwardsville,’” Blade said. “We graduated 10, we had some kids that hadn’t had much, if any, varsity experience at all.”

Tiger softball had been a staple for the Metro East area for a number of years, and the senior group that returned from three straight conference and regional championships and two sectional titles, a dip in expectations was expected.

But Edwardsville won another Southwestern Conference title at 13-1 and claimed a fifth straight regional championship before falling to SWC favorite O’Fallon 9-5 in the sectional semifinals to end its season 28-6.

Nobody expected 28 wins, much less a conference and regional title, but after those early losses, it was a group that was bend on proving the doubters wrong.

“We proved them wrong,” said senior Rachel Anderson, who will move on to continue her career at Southeast Missouri State after hitting a team-best .543 with 44 RBI. “Like coach Blade said, as we first started, people are going to be down on us because we lost so many seniors last year.

“Literally we came into this season wanting to prove people wrong. We kept going, we kept pushing every practice, every pitch, every hit, we just kept going.”

The Tigers, who lost those early season games to Gillespie and Breese Mater Dei, reeled off 12 straight wins and re-established itself as an area power that won’t go away quietly.

The Tigers were carried by their offense (eight of nine starters hit better than .300 and four of them were over .400), but junior Jordan Garella (20-4, 1.97 ERA) and sophomore Jordyn Henricks (7-0, 1.67 ERA) put up strong numbers from the mound.

The Tigers just ran out of gas against the Panthers, who played for a sectional title Saturday against Normal West.

“I told the kids, ‘Nothing against us, but that was the favorite in the conference,’” Blade said of O’Fallon. “So for them to beat us two out of three, I’m not overly surprised, but it was a huge win when we beat us the first time, and (Wednesday), we just let it get too big of a gap to put any real pressure on at the end. That’s what happened both times, bit it was just a little too much.”

Even down 7-2 after the Panthers put up seven runs in the top of the third which ultimately was costly to the Tigers, Edwardsville made a late push.

Blade, who is 395-74 in 13 seasons with the Tigers (654-104 in 21 seasons that include eight with Carrollton), had one of the more satisfying seasons of her career based on the

“What a great season these young ladies put together,” Blade said. “… This group learned. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a group develop through the season and learn to compete, and this group did. … That’s what I would take a great deal of pride in and appreciation of this group to compete day in and day out. I credit my senior group for leading in that. We had a team meeting early and everybody responded really well. Our offense led us throughout the year, but it was just an awesome group to work with that really competed day in and day out.”

The senior group, that includes Anderson, Hayli Green, Jordan Corby, Allison Loehr, Devin Kane, Jennifer Kocevar and Jennifer Werner, went 121-19 with four conference and regional championships and two sectional titles.

“We did a phenomenal job,” Anderson said. “We won the conference and nobody thought we were going to do that. We just kept pushing to the last out and that’s all we can ask for. … We gave all that we have, all that we’ve got from our pitchers to our hitters. That’s all you can ask for. Yeah, we went farther last couple years, but we just did all we could. It was a good team effort.”